BRIERLEY Hill Fire Station is holding a hoarding awareness day today (Wednesday June 18).
The event will run from midday until 2pm and will include information about services that can help with hoarding, talks from hoarding specialist Heather Matuozzo and demonstrations showing how quickly fire can spread.
Peter Allington, a community risk reduction officer with WMFS, said: “Someone can start to hoard for a variety of reasons and don’t usually recognise the dangers it presents. They end up living among property which is jammed into rooms, piled from floor to ceiling.
“Fire spreads very quickly in such an environment. The hoarder places themselves and anyone they live with at risk, as well as their neighbours and the firefighters who would be called to find and rescue them and to put the fire out.”
He added: “If anyone is concerned about the safety of a family member, friend or neighbour who is hoarding, we can get the ball rolling by arranging a Home Safety Check. They just to need to give us a free call on 0800 389 5525.”
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